


apples don‘t fall far from their trees

by pomme (manta)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, god i love these two so MUCH, natsu chatters and yachi listens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-08
Updated: 2015-09-08
Packaged: 2018-04-19 14:31:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4749863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/manta/pseuds/pomme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a last minute panic, Hinata asks Hitoka to babysit his sister. </p><p>And that is how Hitoka finds herself in an unfamiliar two-storey in a rural neighbourhood, exchanging curious glances with a child who is Hinata’s spitting image.</p>
            </blockquote>





	apples don‘t fall far from their trees

**Author's Note:**

> Written in celebration of the Yachi's birthday. Love you, little crow princess.

Hitoka did not expect to ever see Hinata Shouyou beg.

But that was only in volleyball terms; at his best he stood tall and proud on the court, extending himself as far as he could to meet the tallest players. Even when he came to find Hitoka, eager for kinder tutelage than what Tsukishima offered, Hinata blustered in and out like a tornado and left her reeling in his wake.

However, when Hinata’s concerns are about someone else...

“Yachi-san, please!” he said, before she could even utter a word. “I’m sorry for asking last minute, but my teacher sounded _serious_. Must be about the exam where I accidentally skipped a page-"

"Skipped a page?" Yachi cried. "Hinata!"

"I know, I know! Got too nervous. Anyway, I trust you with my sister! You’re good with kids, unlike Kageyama, and you won’t burn the house down, unlike Kageyama-”

“What?!”

“He _almost_ did. Foil in the microwave. I’ll tell you another time. Please, please, please, _please_!” Hinata placed his flattened hands together and bowed. “Just for a bit! I can’t leave her alone in the house.”

“Well,” Hitoka started, and how could she say no with his huge brown eyes boring into hers so desperately? “I guess I can ask my mom’s chauffeur to drive me over-”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Hinata pressed a house key into her hand and raced off. “You’re a lifesaver, Yachi-san!” he tossed over his shoulder.

And that is how Hitoka finds herself in an unfamiliar two-storey in a rural neighbourhood, exchanging curious glances with a child who is Hinata’s spitting image.

“Hello!” The tinier Hinata chirps without hesitation. Her eyes, as open and clear as her brother’s, watch Hitoka’s every move. She’s still wearing her lion backpack and monochrome school uniform; she must have come home right before Hitoka did.

“Hello,” Hitoka returns, a little embarrassed she didn’t greet the younger girl first.

“I’m Natsu!” the child continues. She takes two steps forward, toward the entranceway and closer to Hitoka. “And you’re not Nii-chan. But you’re wearing the same uniform.”

“I’m Yachi Hitoka, manager on your brother’s volleyball club. He asked me to watch you until he comes home.”

Natsu’s close enough that Hitoka realizes, with a pang of dismay, she isn’t that much taller than a seven year old.

“You’re Nii-chan’s friend?” Natsu wants to know. Her hands swing neatly at her sides, her head high and alert.

“Fr-friend?” Hitoka’s never considered the thought. But she and Hinata know each other quite well by now and he seems to enjoy her company, if his raucous charges toward her during practice breaks are a good indication. “I think so.”

Hitoka notes her own posture, her hand clenched around the shoe she was in the process of removing from her foot. She forces her slightly raised shoulders down.

Natsu nods. “Nii-chan doesn’t invite people over a lot. Last time, he brought someone from the club too.” She tilts her head, and twists a finger around one short, orange pigtail, thoughtful. “Kageyama-kun was scary at first. But you aren’t.”

“Oh! Thanks, I guess.” Hitoka self consciously squeezes her shoe once more, and finally places it on the floor. “How about a snack first? Are you hungry? I definitely am!”

Natsu leads the way toward the kitchen, lion backpack bobbing. “I want an apple! You cut it, Yachi-chan. I’m not allowed to use the knife.”

Hitoka follows, wondering why she feels like the one being looked after.

 

* * *

 

An hour into her unexpected job as babysitter for the sibling of the most indomitable person she knows, Hitoka expects to be exhausted.

She isn’t.

It’s muscle memory; Kageyama and Hinata struggle on the court as long as is necessary, but they can only take sixty minutes worth of practice problems before they grow restless. From their sessions together Hitoka’s grown as a teacher as well, learned the difference between students tired from boredom and those tired from exertion. With Kageyama and Hinata it’s always the latter, and no matter how tired Hitoka is after Hinata sees her off at the bus stop, she leaves with a sense of satisfaction.

Like her brother, Hinata Natsu is forceful. Quick to smile and respond, she drinks everything in and knows what she wants.

“No!” she had said, when Hitoka presented her with a plate of neatly sliced apples.

“No? Isn’t this what you wanted?” Hitoka asked. She was at least relieved Natsu’s face didn’t cloud over with displeasure like the fussier children Hitoka knew.

“Rabbits. Cut them like rabbits, Yacchan!”

And though Natsu spoke the nickname from frustration, she liked it so much she addressed Hitoka as such from then on.

When the slices were whittled appropriately to resemble rabbits, Hitoka placed the plate in front of Natsu again, who pushed it so the snack was in between the both of them. “They’re almost too cute to eat,” she said, cheerful again. “You’re even better than Nii-chan!”

The slices are quickly devoured. Hitoka marvels at their sweetness, the juice flowing into her mouth with loud, satisfying crunches. “My favourite apples,” Natsu fills her in, as if it’s of vital importance that Hitoka knows.

Natsu reaches for a container of chilled water in the fridge, placed at a height she can reach, and pours it into two glasses. She’s the classroom representative, a fact she tells Hitoka proudly. “I pass out the books and snacks and make sure no one fights,” she says, turning the tap on to soak the plate in the sink.

Classroom representative is a lot of responsibility, far more than Hitoka had at that age, and she tells Natsu so. “It’s a big job!”

“Yeah! I have to be firm, too. Everyone listens to me!” Natsu reaches down to unzip the stomach of her lion backpack. “The teacher gave me a cool pin so everyone knows who I am! Wanna see?”

Natsu’s already on her way to retrieving the pin, but Hitoka humours her anyway. “Of course!”

“Mngh… _Oh_!”

The small ball of fire that is Natsu’s head pops above the table again.

“You’re Yachi! You’re _that_ Yachi!” she exclaims, in renewed awe. “The one Nii-chan talks about all the time!”

“Me? I…. Wh-wha. _Me_?” Hitoka should really get used to Hinata’s frank outbursts about everyone he knows. But even now, it’s hard to believe the team values her so much; just today, Tanaka and Noya stopped by with a blue popsicle for her “because it was buy two, get two free!”. (They were on their way to give the final popsicle to Shimizu, though Hitoka had a feeling she knew how that ended.)

“Nii-chan talks about a different person every day. It’s annoying when I want to talk, but he talks about you a lot. He says," and here Natsu drops her voice and widens her eyes like an excited puppy in a spot on impression of her brother, "'Yachi-san’s patient and kind, Yachi-san yells “GWAH!” with me, Yachi-san’s a good listener and gives good advice.'” She blinks innocently, with no idea she’s dropped the equivalent of a bomb on Hitoka’s delicate heart. “Is that you?”

She patiently watches the girl above her turn four shades of scarlet, before Hitoka settles into a profuse pink and stutters, “I- I guess that’s me.”

“Then I could use some advice!” Natsu turns in her seat to face Hitoka. “I want to make friends with the new student in our class. She seems nice, but she’s so shy. I can’t invite her to eat lunch with me and my friends because we’re too noisy. _Especially_ Komori. What a chatterbox!”

She looks at Hitoka expectantly, who manages to nod in sympathy without bursting into giggles.

“Yacchan, how do I make friends with Reina without scaring her away?”

Unlike her brother, Hinata Natsu knows her own brightness. She’s learned how to refract her light, refine the “GWAH!” into a deliberate power, and when to dim it. It’s rather intimidating, Hitoka thinks, when a child’s already aware of her abilities.

But Hitoka just says, “Well, you could start by smiling at her when you hand out things? Or chatting a little before class starts, so you get to know each other.”

“I want everyone else to meet her, too!”

“Just you is a good start. I know talking to one person at a time would make me feel more comfortable in a new class.”

Natsu considers this, her eyebrows knit together. “Okay!” she agrees. “I can do that.” And she reaches into her bag again, only to jump back up. “Nii-chan says you’re the best artist ever. Can I see your drawings? Can you draw _me?_ ”

“I didn’t bring my sketchbook today,” Hitoka says apologetically. Natsu’s face falls a little, and Hitoka hastily adds, “But I can bring it next time! And there’s a lot more of my art at my house. My mother insists on hanging her favourites up, to motivate us both.”

“So…” Natsu frowns again, unsure. “I can come? To your house?”

“I’m sure your brother won’t mind bringing you along, next time I tutor him and Kageyama-kun. I’ll insist on it! And I’ll draw you. I promise.”

Hitoka’s almost blinded by Natsu’s huge grin; the younger girl’s missing one of her bottom teeth. “Nii-chan’s right, you _are_ amazing,” she declares, and misses Hitoka’s echoing smile when she dives back into her bag.

 

* * *

 

Natsu keeps ducking down to find her pin, only to reappear when she remembers something else she wants to tell Hitoka: the purple wildflowers Natsu’s pressing in between two heavy books, her new hair ribbons with red and white polka dots, the bike she wants for her next birthday to go on rides with her brother.

She’s only just unearthed the pin (and it’s indeed handsome, a green apple with a worm that says “Great Job!”), when they hear the sound of a key turning in the lock.

“Mama! Nii-chan!” Natsu screams. She tosses all propriety to the wind as she takes a running leap, and her laughing brother catches her easily.

“You were good for Yachi-san, right?” he asks, peering around his wriggling sister to look at Hitoka.

“Really good!” Hitoka says, grinning. “We shared an apple and talked, and she showed me her class representative pin.”

“Of _course_ I was good!” Natsu huffs. She ungracefully hooks around Shouyou, hanging on by his neck before swinging her foot on his shoulder and clambering onto his back.

Their mother smiles, and Hitoka can see where the younger Hinatas inherited their warmth. “Won’t you stay for dinner? We have more than enough food.”

“It’s all right, I should get going-” Hitoka says, at the same time the siblings yell, “Stay!”

“I owe you for today, Yachi-san!” (Shouyou.)

“Mama makes the best grilled fish!” (Natsu.)

“Please!” They chorus in unison.

“Well…” And Hitoka caves in the face of the heat of three suns.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Michi for reading this over and encouraging me to post. We decided Natsu keeps the "san" honorific for types like Oikawa and Sugawara; otherwise, everyone is immediate potential friend material.
> 
> Hinata Natsu, you are a busybody. And you make Yachi feel like a million dollars.


End file.
